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Abhishek Shankar: I was in Pune to participate in one of the largest conferences in Oncology

Photo taken from Abhishek Shankar/LinkedIn

Sep 5, 2023, 17:57

Abhishek Shankar: I was in Pune to participate in one of the largest conferences in Oncology

Abhishek Shankar, Radiation Oncologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi , recently shared on LinkedIn:

“I was in Pune to participate in one of the largest conferences in Oncology i.e. Officially licensed Best of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to discuss the latest innovation in delivering cancer care, originally discussed in the Annual Congress of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, USA. This is organized every year by the Indian Co-operative Oncology Network (ICON), led by Dr. Purvish Parikh Sir.

We discussed three important studies presented in ASCO 2023 in a panel discussion that have a significant impact on lung cancer care globally. I am summarizing the important learning from these three important studies.

1. MSH3 and MSH6 gene polymorphisms: Association with lung cancer susceptibility and prognostic value in patients with NSCLC undergoing platinum-based chemotherapy.

– Indian study, led by Dr Navneet Singh from PGI, Chandigarh, and Siddharth Sharma from Thapar Institute of Engineering, Patiala in Punjab.
– MSH3 and MSH6 polymorphisms are involved in modulating the risk of Lung Cancer occurrence.
– MSH6 polymorphism is also associated with higher mortality amongst patients treated with docetaxel-platinum chemotherapy.

### Larger population-based studies will be required to understand the association of single nucleotide polymorphism and lung cancer in terms of early detection through screening, and response to treatment and outcomes.

2. OS survival analysis from the ADAURA trial of adjuvant Osimertinib in patients with resected EGFR-mut stage 1B-IIIA NSCLC.

– ADAURA is the first global Phase III study to demonstrate statistically significant and clinically meaningful OS benefit, reinforcing adjuvant Osimertinib as the standard of care for patients with resected EGFRm stage IB–IIIA NSCLC.

### Although Osimertinib is the standard of care in EGFRm NSCLC in disease progression or relapse settings, only a minority of patients in the control arm received Osimertinib. This trial would have been more valuable and useful if they had compared adjuvant Osimertinib to Osimertinib at relapse in view of the cost of the drug. It was unfair on the patient’s part not to receive standard treatment for relapse in this study.

3. IND227 phase III (P3) study of cisplatin/pemetrexed (CP) with or without pembrolizumab (Pembro) in patients (pts) with malignant pleural mesothelioma (PM): A CCTG, NCIN, and IFCT trial.

– Platinum/pemetrexed and pembrolizumab is a new therapeutic option in previously untreated malignant pleural mesothelioma as They showed statistically and clinically significant improvement in Overall survival.

### Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma is a rare disease in India and there is a need to look for financial toxicity of Immunotherapy drugs in LMICs including India.”

Source: Abhishek Shankar/LinkedIn